In general, organic waste such as food waste contains a large amount of animal/vegetable cellulose, protein, carbohydrate, calcium, and so forth. Thus, if the organic waste is buried in the ground without decomposed and disposed of, extracts from the organic waste may flow into the ground, contaminating soil, subterranean water and the like.
To prevent this problem, there has been a demand for a food waste disposal system for decomposing and disposing of the organic waste such as food waste.
As one example of conventional food waste disposal system, there is known an apparatus for disposing of food waste or organic waste by making the food waste or organic waste into fertilizer or provender using microorganism, as disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-1994-12627 (FERMENT FERTILIZER'S APPARATUS), Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-1994-12628 (APPARATUS FOR COMPOST OF ORGANIC MATERIALS), Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1996-4300 (METHOD OF MAKING COMPOST AND FERTILIZER OF FOOD GARBAGE AND PLANT), Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-1995-7395 (HIGH-SPEED COMPOSTING APPARATUS FOR FOOD GARBAGE) and Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-1994-24804 (FOOD GARBAGE FERMENTATION APPARATUS), or the like.
Although the above-mentioned conventional methods or apparatuses have an effect of reducing the amount of organic waste, they have following problems. Since it takes a long time to decompose the organic waste, the conventional methods or apparatuses have low processing efficiency. Further, due to low processing power, organic waste yet to be completely decomposed may be discharged out, accompanying noxious gas and offensive odor.
Another example of conventional food waste disposal system is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-270982 (DECOMPOSITION DEVICE OF ORGANIC WASTE), Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-19663 (REFUSE DISPOSAL MACHINE FOR DISH), Korean Patent Registration No. 10-535699 (AGITATION BARREL STRUCTURE IN FOOD WASTE CLEAN SWEEP APPARATUS), or the like.
Among these disclosures, described in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-270982 (DECOMPOSITION DEVICE OF ORGANIC WASTE) is an organic waste decomposition device capable of disposing of organic waste at a high speed by using microorganism and heated air. The organic waste decomposition device includes a cylindrical shell case, a shaft, an arm blade, a driving motor and a pre-heater. The cylindrical shell case is fastened to a base frame and stores therein microorganism. The shaft is rotatably fastened to a center of the shell case. The arm blade is coupled to the shaft and is configured to agitate and crush organic waste put into the shell case. The driving motor is configured to provide the shaft with a rotary power, and the pre-heater is configured to pre-heat air supplied into the shell case.
Further, disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-19663 (REFUSE DISPOSAL MACHINE FOR DISH) is a food waste disposal apparatus including a crushing mill; an agitating and crushing blade provided at a lower part of the crushing mill; and an injection system. In this apparatus, food waste put into a processing vessel through an inlet opening is primarily processed by the crushing mill and then is secondarily processed by the agitating and crushing blade. Accordingly, decomposition time can be shortened, and the inside of the processing vessel can be cleaned by the injection system provided within the processing vessel.
Further, described in Korean Patent No. 10-535699 (AGITATION BARREL STRUCTURE IN FOOD WASTE CLEAN SWEEP APPARATUS) is an agitation barrel structure for use in a food waste disposal apparatus. The agitation barrel structure includes an agitation barrel having a dual structure including an upper bottom with a drain hole and a lower bottom with a drain port; a separable bottom plate coupled to and fixed on the upper bottom of the agitation barrel and having a drain hole; a net provided between the separable bottom plate and the upper bottom; and an agitation blade for agitating food waste input into the agitation barrel. In accordance with this structure, water extracted from the food waste can be drained to the outside through the lower bottom and the agitation port. Further, by replacing the separable bottom plate, the bottom part of the agitation barrel can be easily replaced.
Since, however, the above-mentioned apparatuses in accordance with another conventional example are operated by analogue type manual switch devices, manipulation thereof is inconvenient and it is impossible to select an operation mode among an automatic mode and a manual mode. Further, since it is impossible to inject warm water to the inside of the shell case (agitation barrel), food waste disposal efficiency may be degraded. Moreover, since the inside of the shell case (agitation barrel) cannot be washed clean, offensive odor may be generated.
Apparatuses disclosed in Korean Patent Nos. 10-0808132 (FOOD & DRINK WASTE FOR DESTRUCTION EQUIPMENT), 10-0832785 (A DESTRUCTION SYSTEM EQUIPMENT FOR FOOD & DRINK WASTE), 10-0831380 (FOOD & DRINK WASTE FOR DESTRUCTION EQUIPMENT), which were filed by the present application prior to the filing date of the present application and registered, are designed to solve the aforementioned problems including the problem that decomposition takes a long time and processing efficiency is low, and noxious gas and offensive odor are generated due to the discharge of food waste yet to be completely processed; the problem that manipulation is inconvenient due to analogue type operation and selection of an operation mode (automatic mode or manual) is impossible; and the problem that, since warm water cannot be injected to the inside of the shell case (agitation barrel), a disposal ability is low and offensive odor is generated due to a failure to clean the inside of the shell case (agitation barrel).
However, the above-mentioned patented food waste disposal apparatuses (or disposal system) still have a problem in that it is difficult to satisfy a standard sewage amount set by each nation in draining, as sewage, residues generated after biological decomposition using microorganism is completed. Due to this problem, the apparatuses (or system) may not be available in some countries, and, in such case, an additional apparatus for improving the quality of the sewage is required.
Moreover, in the process of draining decomposed food as sewage, a great amount of water is consumed. In order to set up environment for decomposing food waste effectively, about 4 liters of water is used for each cycle of performing a water supply operation for supplying water into the agitation barrel and a water drain operation for washing away decomposed food as sewage. If this amount is calculated in terms of a daily usage amount, about 400 liters of water may be used. Since usage of such a great amount of water degrades environment-friendliness of the food waste disposal apparatus, there is a demand for a measure to manage water usage effectively.
Meanwhile, a food waste disposal apparatus may be usually used in, e.g., a mega store to dispose of food that has passed the expiration date. Food is usually put on a market while packed. If the packed food is put into the food waste disposable apparatus, packaging waste may cause a disorder of the food waste disposal apparatus. In the present specification, “packaging waste” implies matters thrown away after used in packing food and may include a food container, a packaging material, a buffing material and the like.
Further, not only the packaging waste but also hard material such as seeds in fruits or bones in meats may not be decomposed by microorganism and remain in the food waste disposal apparatus, causing degradation of the processing efficiency of the apparatus or disorder of the apparatus.
In order to prevent these problems, prior to inputting the food waste into the food waste disposal apparatus, an operator needs to remove packaging material or hard matters from the food waste manually. Such a process may impose a burden on the operator and garbage processing time may be increased, resulting in deterioration of garage processing efficiency of the apparatus.